Squid flies are so neat to tie. They take more time and effort than most other flies at the bench. When I'm done, I feel like I created something special.

We all like to tie them through the winter and look at them. We have them in our fly boxes, but sometime don't carry them.

The reason I ask this question is, they are popular to tie but I feel like they are the most underutilized fly on the water. If you fish the shallows and estuaries, they are not even on your radar screen.

Fishing from a boat in bay situations we never see any physical showings of squid. Ask me what they look like on a sonar screens and I'm not sure if they even register an image. So most of the time I feel like, "Out of sight, out of mind," till someone cleans a bass and there they are. Guess what, "The trip is over by than."

I know we have clues on the water to remind us of their presents. Some are pretty easy. I know when they snag for squid on the causeway in Newport, that they are around in abundance. I see other boats trawling for them on the ocean front in spring. During daylight hours, most of us are fishing baitfish patterns. Why do we stay away from fishing them? We kind a forget about them entirely?

How many of you actually fish squid flies regularly?

striperstripper

03-07-2005, 04:01 PM

squid flies at night from shore ,squid tend to be bright light sensitve,in the evening they come closer to shore for bait fish,late April to early June from the Falmouth shore of the sound to Hyannis spring is squid at night time.

Eddie

03-07-2005, 05:38 PM

I was watching a video of a squid swimming, and I thought that the way a squid swims is remarkably similar to the way a fly swims. It made me wonder how many fish one catches on a deciever and the fish thought it was hitting a squid.
I never fish squid patterns for the reasons that Ray stated.
This season.

Penguin

03-07-2005, 06:57 PM

Early in the season...
Just before first & last light or in da'ripz...
6-12" pink or brown cephalopod with a little flash...
The take is as subtle as a high speed train wreck...

Ditto for Bishop's Shoal and the southside of the PharSide in June...
Throw me and some phuzzie notions into that briar patch!

Oystercatcher

03-07-2005, 07:39 PM

I fish 'em big in may and june any time water is making up a rip.

I fish 'em small in late July/early august when the little guys show up.

In order of use: white, pink, orange, red, green

striperstripper

03-07-2005, 08:21 PM

There are some places where the striper is known as squid hounds,that should tell us how much stripers like squid,even when they are keyed on to other bait such as herring or menhaden,they'll leave that bait for squid.Slow retrieve or let them drift in the current,a fast moving squid is a panicked squid .An estuary that leads to a salt pond or creeks will have squid in spring and early summer,especially at night ,we don't always know they are there,it's always worth casting a squid pattern at night.

Slinger

03-08-2005, 12:32 AM

Every year it`s the same," I swear I`m gonna use those squid more." and every year it`s the same old story, I reach for the old stand-byes. This year it`s gonna be different, I swear!
Slinger

juro

03-08-2005, 04:51 AM

Three times I do calimari flies in the year:

1) Mother's Day squid run on south cape annually

2) Juvies on the summer flats (most likely another species based on markings)

3) Big squid in the rips, but being a shore angler that is not as frequent

(I used small squid frequently for coho salmon out west before adapting the same fly to stripers after moving)

:D I believe that I mentioned it awhile ago, in fact I even posted a picture. When I did, it looked so horrible that the thread ended. :chuckle: I fished it from a boat, and also from the shore. It took some of the largest blues I have taken, in the rips at Watch Hill blues to 14 lbs. I even used it offshore where I caught Mahi Mahi, and Albacore. It has also done alright with Stripers. Easy to tie, looks like hell, but works well. :hihi:

striperstripper

03-08-2005, 12:30 PM

One tell tale sign when it's time to tie on the squid pattern,early spring when the squid boats start to traverse the shores along Vineyard sound,Nantucket sound and about a month later along the shores of Cape Cod bay.Also later in the fall,mid September to as late as early November,I have seen huge schools of squid under the lights behind Joe's lobster and fish market at the east end of the cape canal.I can remember 20 odd years ago snagging squid with weighted treble hooks to bring home ,I was with about a half dozen portuguese old timers ,they did'nt speak english and I do'nt speak portuguese,when two of the largest stripers I had seen in years made several runs through the squid school,this was when even schoolies were rare,the old timers started chattering in their native tongue and I in mine,we had no idea what we were saying to each other,but I was able to figure out by how far apart they were holding their arms to show the size of the stripers,it must of been what I was thinking,"holy crap did you see that"?

Oystercatcher

03-08-2005, 12:42 PM

Here are some I use. Big guys are on tubes. small on TMC 911. Thanks to Kush for the education on tubes this winter.

Nick

03-08-2005, 01:50 PM

I never really noticed them much...until one day in the Race off of Fishers. Blues and bass blew up all around the boat and I couldn't buy a hook up on my clouser. After the melee, i looked between the two outboards. Nestled in there were a half dozen or so 4-5" long squid hanging out in the safety of the motors. No squid flies were in my fly box that day. That won't happen again.

NIck

Dble Haul

03-08-2005, 02:04 PM

I use them, but apparently not enough. :redface:

desmobob

03-09-2005, 06:27 PM

The second year I fished South beach, my buddy had a schoolie chase a small squid around his feet as he stood in knee-deep water!

I guess like a lot of guys, we read about them, tied the patterns, carried them, didn't fish them, and stopped carrying them.